Puppy Love
by Julexer
Summary: Big summer plans for the Greene family are dashed by unexpected events. Please r/r!


Title: Puppy Love  
  
By: Julexer  
  
DISCLAIMER: "ER", the characters and situations depicted within are the property of Warner Bros. Television, Amblin Entertainment, Constant C Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission but without the intent of infringement. The story presented here is written solely for entertainment purposes, and the author is not making a profit.  
  
Please do not post or distribute without the disclaimer above, or without the permission of the author.  
  
Feedback is welcome and appreciated. Write to julexer@hotmail.com  
  
Thanks SO SO SO much to Lori for reading and reviewing and otherwise feeding my ER addiction.  
  
SUMMARY: Big summer plans for the Greenes are dashed by unexpected events.  
  
RATING: PG-13  
  
  
  
As the scene on the television screen drew to a close, Ella and her two friends roused themselves from their respective sloth-like positions on the living room furniture and froze, poised with their hands clutched to their chests.  
  
"Love means never having to say you're sorry," they chorused earnestly with Ali MacGraw, then allowed their spines to become jelly once again.  
  
Mark and Elizabeth, seated at the kitchen table with the Sunday paper, looked up at this inspiring display of dramatic talent. Elizabeth shook her head ruefully. "That movie."  
  
Mark swallowed coffee and set down his cup. "What? It's a classic!"  
  
She laughed. "You can't possibly have been old enough to see it when it first premiered. I certainly wasn't."  
  
"No, no, not in 1970. But I do remember taking a girl to a drive-in that was showing it as a revival a while later…" He stared blankly at the local news page.  
  
Elizabeth laughed again at this, then rose to refill both of their cups. She frowned at the dirty ice cream bowls and spoons that littered the kitchen counter – remnants of the girls' sundae party and Gone With the Wind marathon that had raged until late the night before.  
  
She'd wait until their morning movie was over to remind them that they all had working hands perfectly suited to loading the dishwasher, she decided. It was the first weekend of the summer, and a few hours of unbridled laziness seemed deserved.  
  
She and Mark rather enjoyed having Ella's friends to stay, Elizabeth realized, remembering the assorted crew of teenagers that had staggered in and out of the kitchen during Rachel's last years of living at home. Twelve- year-old Ella's friends tended to be from her soccer team, and by and large they were a low-key, polite and good-humored lot.  
  
When the credits rolled, Ella stretched her arms and legs and sighed, luxuriating in the new and delicious reality that no homework would appear in her assignment book for the next three months. All she had to do was sleep in, eat ice cream, hang out with her friends, and play soccer. If she was lucky she might persuade her parents to go camping, and at the beginning of August they would go to Berkeley to visit Doug, Carol, Tess and Kate.  
  
She was definitely looking forward to spending time with her friends, she thought, looking at Sasha and Natalie. She was definitely closest to the girls on her soccer team, and although most of them did go to her school, classes and conflicting schedules meant she didn't get to see them nearly as much as she would have enjoyed. It wasn't like there weren't plenty of kids in her class that she liked – in fact there was a guy named Jonah with whom she'd recently been spending quite a lot of time and she was hoping to see a lot more of him this summer too. But extended conversations with most of the girls at school about certain band members and brands of jeans sometimes got old when she really just wanted to slip into her soccer shorts and hit the field.  
  
Having gathered sufficient energy to pick up the remote, Ella turned off the TV and looked up at her friends. "What do you guys want to do now?"  
  
Natalie was sprawled out along the other end of the couch, her legs tangled up with Ella's in the middle. "Ummm…"  
  
Sasha lay belly-down on the love seat, her chin in her hands and her feet in the air. "Ummm…"  
  
"I have a suggestion," said Elizabeth mildly, taking advantage of the lull. She pointed to the sticky mess on the kitchen counter.  
  
"Oh, no," moaned Ella, sighing hugely and allowing her limbs to become even more limp.  
  
  
  
After slowly cleaning up their mess, the girls made lemonade in a big frosty pitcher. They gathered it up with towels from the linen closet upstairs, music, and Ella's CD player and took everything outside to the deck. Ella planned to get as much sunbathing in as possible before her parents began their annual summertime mantra about melanoma.  
  
Natalie pulled her T-shirt up to expose her brown belly and stretched out on a beach towel emblazoned with the English flag. "I am so glad that school is out."  
  
Sasha and Ella nodded in agreement. "And we've got a whole week to sleep in before soccer camp starts," added Sasha.  
  
"You guys, we are gonna be so good by August," declared Ella, ever responsible for soccer spirit and good cheer.  
  
Natalie pulled her long dark curls into a ponytail. "I wish I could just play soccer and not babysit my little brothers and sisters," she sighed. "That would be the perfect summer."  
  
Sasha laughed. "Me, too. A perfect summer would be if I didn't have to go to school but Jack did."  
  
Ella scoffed, "You don't have to babysit Jack. He's fourteen. And anyway, what's so bad about babysitting?"  
  
Natalie sat up in astonishment. "Are you kidding? Nothing's bad – if you're not babysitting brats! Colin won't do anything I say. Julie is constantly following me around and whining. Audrey thinks the funnest thing in the world is destroying my room."  
  
"Okay, but Sam's cute."  
  
"Sam's only four months old! Give him time!"  
  
Ella rolled her eyes and turned to look for a new CD, but she didn't really think having a younger brother or sister would be all that bad. Having four like Natalie might be overkill, but she'd always thought one would be kind of fun. She'd imagined having someone to conspire with, to play jokes on her parents with, and of course, to be her own personal soccer protégé.  
  
Back in her younger days, she'd regularly asked both parents, Santa Claus, and the tooth fairy for a baby brother, having decided she'd take a boy or a girl and her dad deserved a boy since he was clearly outnumbered. But then, when she was seven, her mom had had to go to the hospital very early one winter morning and her dad had carried her, still in her pajamas, into the lounge and explained that they'd tried to get her a baby brother, but it hadn't worked, and that he was sorry.  
  
Now that she was older, Ella realized what had happened and why her mom had looked so pale and tired in the hospital bed when her dad had carried her in to see her. It had been a scary, long night. Since then, she'd learned that there had been two earlier miscarriages, although neither of them had required trips to the emergency room. She'd never asked for a sibling after that night, but it wasn't like she'd stopped thinking about it.  
  
Sasha was trying to get her attention. "Ella, do you want more lemonade?" She motioned at her empty glass.  
  
"Thanks." Sasha poured, and she gulped at the sweet coldness. "Hey, what should we do tonight?"  
  
"Can we please not go to my house?" asked Natalie, turning on her stomach.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I share a room with a seven-year-old, remember? If we want to stay up late..."  
  
Sasha looked up. "We could go to my house."  
  
Ella nodded eagerly, remembering that Jonah lived down the street from Sasha. "Yeah, and then we could swim in your pool."  
  
"We'll just have to hide from Jack, or he'll totally torture us."  
  
All three of them looked up as Mark came up the steps. "Hi, Dad."  
  
Mark squinted into the sunlight. "Hey, I don't see any bottles of sunscreen out here."  
  
Ella sighed impatiently. "Hey, Daddy, can I go to Sasha's tonight, if it's okay with her parents?"  
  
"Yeah, okay, but Mom and I were thinking of barbecuing for dinner, if you guys want to stick around for that."  
  
"What are you barbecuing?"  
  
"Burgers, hot dogs, whatever you want – hey, you're not a vegetarian this week, are you?"  
  
"Dad!"  
  
"What? Are you?"  
  
"…No."  
  
  
  
It was just barely getting dark that evening and the air hadn't yet lost the heat of midday as they all finished up their dinner. It had been a proper summertime feast, with plenty of corn on the cob, watermelon, and Mark's specially barbecued and seasoned burgers. Elizabeth, in a green tank top and a long cotton skirt, fetched two bottles of beer and three of soda from the kitchen and distributed them before settling back down next to Mark on one of the benches.  
  
Sasha and Natalie thanked her for the drinks. "Thanks for having us for the weekend, too," added Natalie, and Sasha nodded in agreement.  
  
"You're welcome. You two are a pleasure. Are you as happy as Ella that summer's finally here?"  
  
"Oh, definitely," declared Sasha. "Pure soccer for three months." Ella and Natalie sighed in apparent bliss.  
  
Just then, they heard a honk from the street. Sasha looked at Ella. "My dad's here."  
  
"Yep." The girls dashed off to gather their clothes and slumber party essentials. Ella stuck her head out the door on the fly. "Bye!"  
  
"Have fun, love you," called Mark.  
  
"Dad's working tomorrow, but I'll be home in the afternoon. Call when you're ready, all right?"  
  
"Okay. Thanks!"  
  
She took off and her parents turned to each other and smiled. "They almost make me dizzy," remarked Elizabeth.  
  
Mark chuckled. "I don't know – they kind of make me wish I was twelve again."  
  
"Twelve? Why on earth –"  
  
"Oh, you know. Carefree, living from one ice cream cone to the next..."  
  
"You know," said Elizabeth as she leaned in toward him, pulling him from his seat down to the floor of the deck on one of the beach towels left over from the sunbathing party. "There are some benefits to not being twelve anymore." She kissed him deeply, tasting the beer they had both just drank.  
  
He grinned, smoothing the curls away from her temple. "Oh, really?"  
  
"Really." She slid her hand beneath the waistband of his khakis.  
  
"So," Mark said slowly. "The deck?"  
  
She laughed, low and deep in her throat. "Don't be so surprised, Mark." She smiled up at him. "It's summer."  
  
  
  
Sasha's mother, Laura, was a professor of American literature at the University of Chicago and Tom, her dad, taught biology at the high school the girls would attend when they hit the ninth grade. Ella, after several years of being Sasha's best friend, was nearly as comfortable in their home as she was in her own.  
  
"Hi, Natalie," said Laura, kissing Sasha on the forehead as the girls came in through the kitchen with her husband. "Hey, Ella. How are your mom and dad?"  
  
"They're pretty good," replied Ella, bending to say hello to Luke and Sadie, Sasha's two big yellow labs.  
  
The dogs followed the girls upstairs to Sasha's room, where they all flopped down on her double bed. Ella motioned to the bedside table. "What're those for, Sash?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"That huge stack of books."  
  
Sasha grimaced. "My mom has this big plan for me to get through this long list of summer reading she's been making since Christmas."  
  
Natalie and Ella stared for a minute, then looked at each other and burst into laughter.  
  
"You guys!" protested Sasha, thwacking each of them in turn with her pillow.  
  
"No, no," said Ella, trying gamely to overcome the giggles. "I like books. Just not in June!" She and Natalie collapsed anew into the quilts. Sadie and Luke, hoping this was a new game, barked and wagged their tails, their tags jingling.  
  
Sasha leaned back on her elbows and smiled slyly at Ella. "I bet I know what you'd rather do this June." She arched one eyebrow for supreme effect.  
  
Surprised, Ella raised her own eyebrow right back. "What?"  
  
Natalie suddenly got the message Sasha was sending her via junior high radar. "Ohhh, I know too! You'd rather hang out with Jonah!"  
  
Ella spent exactly two seconds preparing an indignant denial, then gave up and buried her head in the pillows to hide her red cheeks and wide, involuntary grin. Her friends pounced on her, squealing in glee. "You loooove him!"  
  
"You're gonna marry him!"  
  
"Oh, Jonah, you're so dreamy!" Natalie delivered this in her best falsetto.  
  
Sasha had one of her own. "Jonah, I just wanna kiss you and stare at your big, blue, sparkly eyes all day!"  
  
It was Ella's turn to practice pillow warfare on both of her attackers. "You two are nuts. It's not something serious like that! I just think he's nice, that's all…"  
  
"Nice? Do you hear that, Sasha? He's nice. Sounds like a life-threatening case of puppy love, if you ask me."  
  
Just then, the door burst open and Jack came in. Sasha sat up. "Hey, get out."  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Way to be polite in front of your friends, Fishface."  
  
She scoffed. "Way to learn how to knock, Nerdboy."  
  
"Shut up. Listen, I need your computer for a minute."  
  
Sasha was incredulous. "Yeah, you're funny."  
  
He was already sitting down at her desk. "Just for a second. You know Dad checks my hard drive for porn. I don't want him to see this..."  
  
As Ella and Natalie clapped hands over their mouths to suppress nearly hysterical laughter, Sasha considered the benefits of getting off the bed to attempt physical removal of her brother from the room. She sighed and flopped back down. "All right, fine. Hurry up and get out."  
  
After Jack had departed and she had gotten her breath back, Ella looked over at the computer. "Hey, can I check my email?"  
  
"Sure. I just wouldn't look at whatever Jack was doing because it's probably disgusting."  
  
Ella opened her mail. "Hey," she said, turning back to the bed. "I got a message from Rachel."  
  
Natalie perked up. "Really? What's she doing these days, anyway?"  
  
"Um, she's still acting when she can get work, but she met these two guys who are like thirty-five and they all opened a bookstore in Greenwich Village last fall." She scanned the body of the message. "I can't believe this!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Come over here and read it!"  
  
The duo crowded in behind Ella in the chair and read what was on the screen. "Ella, that's so exciting!" exclaimed Natalie.  
  
"Do you think your parents will say yes?" asked Sasha.  
  
Ella bit her lip. "Don't know. You'll have to cross your fingers for me." She closed the email window. "All of them."  
  
  
  
"No way," said Mark calmly, taking a bite of mashed potatoes at dinner the following evening.  
  
"What? Dad, come on! Please!"  
  
"Mark, maybe we should talk about this before we answer one way or another," interjected Elizabeth.  
  
"What's to talk about? You are too young to fly to New York and stay with Rachel for ten days."  
  
"Dad, it's not like she's some stranger! She's my sister. And I'd have such a good time! We could go to, you know, museums and things –" The look on Mark's face told Ella that more talking was useless. She slumped in her chair and looked imploringly at her mother. Elizabeth, however, said nothing.  
  
As they did the dishes later, Elizabeth stacked plates in the cupboard and looked over at her husband. "Mark, maybe we should let her go."  
  
He turned around. "Are you kidding? Do you know what could happen to her in New York?"  
  
"Of course I know! But it's not like she'd be going alone to panhandle and wander the streets! She's right – Rachel is her sister. It'd be good for them to spend some time together."  
  
"Yeah, Rachel –"  
  
"Mark, Rachel is not the same irresponsible teenager she was a decade ago." She waited a beat and smiled. "Piercings notwithstanding."  
  
He sighed. "I know – it was pretty thoughtless of her to send the email before discussing it with us first, though. Rachel's made a lot of really big mistakes. I don't want Ella to become one of them."  
  
"Yes, but Ella isn't a little girl anymore either. Give her some credit – you're the one who's always reminding me how responsible she is. Think how exciting it would be for her to see a little more of the world."  
  
He frowned skeptically. "So, you really think this is a good idea?"  
  
She wiped down the counter and the island. "Well, I think we'd have to establish some rules about what can happen while she's there – with Ella and with Rachel. Ten days is too long – I don't think she can miss that much soccer anyway, especially if we're going to California. But she could go for a few days, maybe at the end of June." She turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. "So yeah, I think it's a good idea."  
  
Mark sighed again. "This part's kind of tough, isn't it?"  
  
Elizabeth was surprised to see the softening that appeared around his eyes. Suddenly, she was struck by the time that had passed so quickly. "Yeah," she agreed, taking his hand.  
  
  
  
The following Monday morning, Mark drove Ella to her first summer practice. "So, Dad," she said, lacing up her cleats in the passenger seat. "I talked to Rachel last night."  
  
"I know, I answered the phone, remember?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. Anyway, she said that she and Paul and Kevin need lots of help in the bookstore, and when I'm there if I want I can help and they'll even pay me!"  
  
"Oh, that'll be cool. Your first job, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, and Rachel's going to take me to get this pizza she said is better than Chicago's."  
  
Mark swung the Acura into the parking lot and looked over at Ella. "She's right, there's nothing like it – hey, do you feel okay? You look pale."  
  
She was already getting out of the car, though. "Yeah, I'm fine. Bye, Dad!" She flashed him a big grin and ran off to join the group of girls in the middle of the field.  
  
Mark spent the morning dealing with two swimming-related ear infections, a seventeen-year-old who had somehow shot himself in the tibia with his father's hunting rifle, and two of the med students currently doing rotations in the ER, neither of whom seemed destined for much success in the department. The pace started to pick up a little when he got an eight- year-old boy with serious dog bites on his face and neck and then ran into Elizabeth just stepping out of the elevator. "Hi," she said. "I'm looking for an MVA – possible surgical belly?"  
  
"Susan's got it in two," he replied. "Want to grab lunch in an hour or so?"  
  
"Yes, definitely. I've only got time for Doc Magoo's, but I'll meet you down here."  
  
Over at Doc's, each of them gave their order to the waitress, who then left to give it to the kitchen. "Did Ella get off to practice all right?" asked Elizabeth.  
  
"Yeah. She's all excited about New York. One thing about Rachel – she'll definitely show her a good time."  
  
Elizabeth smiled. "Remember Rachel when she first came up to see us after Ella was born?"  
  
"Yeah – that was when I was really outnumbered. You, Rachel, Ella, Isabelle. . ."  
  
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You've always managed to hold your own rather well," she replied dryly.  
  
"Rachel was pretty excited. I remember when she was really little she used to beg me and Jen for a baby sister."  
  
Elizabeth smiled faintly. "Ella used to do that too."  
  
He reached to take her hand across the table. "Yeah." Just then, the food arrived, delaying further conversation while they both dug in.  
  
Mark finally looked up. "How was your morning?"  
  
"Fair. I had a meeting with Robert about that resident who falsified those charts last month."  
  
"Oh? How did it go?"  
  
"It was long. The guy is slime, though; he deserves whatever Robert ends up doing to him."  
  
"Yeah, you're right, I've met him a few times." Mark drained his glass of water. "Remind me, what time are you off?"  
  
"Actually, it looks like I might get lucky and take off a few hours early. If I do I'm going to swing by and catch the end of Ella's practice."  
  
  
  
After Elizabeth parked the Mustang, she made her way across the grass to where the soccer team was engaged in the last minutes of a scrimmage. Immediately, she picked out Ella, in her green shorts, white T-shirt and lucky blue and yellow striped socks over her shin guards. She looked damp and tired – Elizabeth could see it had been a long day.  
  
Ella intercepted the ball from an opposing forward and drove hard up the field. Another forward playing for the same side, Maya, had positioned herself even closer to the goal, and Ella made a strong pass across the defense. All eyes were on the ball as Maya accepted it and aimed, the net of the goal billowing out the back with the force of the score.  
  
All eyes except for Elizabeth's. She had never stopped watching Ella, and her heart had nearly stopped as she'd seen her stumble as if in slow motion, then crumple to the ground in a heap. By the time the ball had passed safely between the goal posts, Elizabeth had reached her daughter and was calling her name.  
  
Ella was breathing rapidly, but she was awake again before Elizabeth had touched two fingers to just below her jaw to check her pulse. Her eyes were wide with terror – never had her body failed her like this. "Mom?" Her voice was shaky and she was afraid to move.  
  
"Sweetheart, it's all right. You're okay. Does your head hurt?" She laid a hand on the damp forehead, finding it warm to the touch.  
  
Ella nodded. Just then, her beloved coach, Ozzie Floyd, arrived with cold water and the first aid kit. "Ozzie, I'm okay. I'm okay –"  
  
"I know you are, Ellie. You're tough. Just let your mom check you out, okay?" Concern was evident on his lined face, but he also saw the fear of the rest of the girls and soon turned to make sure they were all right, too.  
  
"Ellie, did you feel all right this morning?" She looked into her daughter's eyes.  
  
"...My throat's been sore for a couple of days, but I didn't want to say anything –"  
  
"– so you wouldn't miss the first day of practice," Elizabeth finished with a sigh. "Let me see." She looked at the back of her throat, then probed along her neck, finding the lymph nodes swollen. "All right, you're okay. Let's go home and see if we can get you in to see Dr. Robbins tomorrow." She started to help her daughter sit up, but stopped her when she winced in pain. She pressed slightly on the left side of Ella's abdomen, just below her chest. "Does this hurt?"  
  
Ella hesitated.  
  
"Ellie, you have to tell me. Does this hurt?"  
  
She nodded reluctantly.  
  
"Okay. You're all right. We're just going to drive in so Dad can check you out, too."  
  
"At the hospital? But, Mom, I'm fine! I'm just really tired. Let's just go home, okay?"  
  
Elizabeth helped her up and back over to the car. "I know. We just need to make sure, all right?"  
  
At the Mustang, Ella collapsed gratefully into the passenger seat. Elizabeth pulled out of the parking lot and dialed her phone. "Hello, Dr. Greene, please…Dr. Corday."  
  
  
  
Mark hung up the phone and turned around. "Kerry, I need to talk to you for a sec."  
  
Kerry looked up from the chart she was reviewing. "Sure, Mark, what's up?"  
  
He led her into the lounge, where the two wayward med students looked up in alarm as they entered, then scurried away. "Elizabeth's bringing Ella in – should be about fifteen minutes."  
  
Kerry was startled. "Is she all right?"  
  
He nodded, although he was clearly worried. "Yeah, she passed out on the soccer field. Swollen lymph nodes, fever. She's tender around her spleen."  
  
"Does Elizabeth think it's ruptured?"  
  
"Probably not. I think she'll be fine; I'm just pretty stacked up with patients, and –"  
  
"Don't worry about it. Give me any charts you need to and we'll cover it."  
  
"Thanks, Kerry."  
  
When Elizabeth and Ella arrived at the front desk, Mark was with a patient, but he had expressly told Jerry where and with what degree of urgency to find him. "Hey, Ellie," he said, coming down the hall toward his wife and daughter. "Not feeling so hot, huh?"  
  
Ella, still dressed in soccer garb and her cheeks flushed, looked up. "Daddy, I'm really all right. I just was tired and my throat –"  
  
"I know. Let's just get you into a room and see what's going on really quick, okay?"  
  
He steered them into the pedes room, mindful of Elizabeth's white knuckles and clenched jaw as she left them to get a nurse and an ultrasound machine.  
  
Mark and Elizabeth's most immediate fear turned out not to be true – Ella's spleen, though enlarged, had not ruptured. During the wait for her labs to come back, she fell sound asleep in the bed. This was very much unlike her, and the air around her parents as they stood just outside in the hall was filled with tension.  
  
"Mark, you've no idea. I was absolutely terrified when she collapsed," Elizabeth said quietly. "The things that went through my mind – I could barely breathe."  
  
His brow was furrowed. "Yeah. I think it makes it worse that she's always been so strong. It's like a completely different world from all the sick kids that come in here."  
  
"And yet, she's fragile after all." Elizabeth turned toward Ella's motionless form inside the room. Mark pulled her to his chest, and they stood there for a quiet moment.  
  
"Labs are back." Malik handed the chart to Mark. "You were right – it's mono."  
  
Both Mark and Elizabeth sighed. "Damn," said Elizabeth.  
  
"Thanks, Malik," said Mark.  
  
"No problem." He was visibly downcast. Ella adored Malik – when she visited the ER she was willing to dance to any music he played, and the two of them often argued about whether soccer was a worthwhile sport despite the pathetic amount of attention paid to it by American network television. He went in to check her IV.  
  
Mark sighed again. "Looks like this is it for soccer for awhile – maybe for the whole summer."  
  
Elizabeth nodded regretfully. "Yes, or that spleen will rupture . . . she's going to argue, you know."  
  
"I know."  
  
  
  
Ella, lying propped up on a pillow, looked in silent horror from one parent to the other on either side of the bed. Finally, she threw back the covers and started to get up. "You're both crazy. Can we please go home now?"  
  
Both of them jumped to stop her. "Ella, sweetheart, lie back down," Elizabeth said.  
  
"No! I'm not sick like you're saying! I just need to go home and sleep. I'll even gargle salt water, okay? I need to make it to practice tomorrow."  
  
Mark looked into her eyes. "Ella, you can't go to practice tomorrow. You really can't play for awhile because the mono makes your spleen really vulnerable and you could hurt it and get even sicker."  
  
She was incredulous. "But, can't you just give me some medicine or something that'll make the mono go away?"  
  
Elizabeth sighed. "No, unfortunately, mononucleosis is a virus and it doesn't respond to antibiotics. The only thing to do is rest and let your body fight it off."  
  
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How long is that going to take?"  
  
"Probably somewhere between three weeks and two months."  
  
Ella was speechless.  
  
Mark took her hand. "You're tough – there's no reason to think you won't be fine before too long."  
  
She finally found her voice. "Two months?"  
  
Both her parents, filled with sympathy, could only nod.  
  
She looked at the ceiling. "I'm going to miss the whole summer season." Her eyes were dry, but dull. Suddenly, she looked back down. "Does this mean I can't go to New York?"  
  
Mark and Elizabeth, neither of whom had even thought of this yet, locked eyes across the bed. "I'm afraid so," Elizabeth confirmed.  
  
"Chances are, we'll still make it to California if you feel well enough, though," offered Mark.  
  
Ella sighed. "Yeah, assuming my spleen doesn't explode by then."  
  
Her mother set her jaw. "Now, there's no need to be dramatic. This might seem like the end of the world, but it isn't. You aren't going to feel well for awhile, and you're going to miss out on some things that I know are really important to you, but you're going to get through this and get better."  
  
For the first time, Ella's eyes filled with tears, and when Mark caught her up in his arms, she buried her face in his chest. Elizabeth reached out to stroke the tangled hair and narrow back, and she and Mark exchanged another look over her head, their faces identically stricken.  
  
When Ella pulled away and lay back against the pillow again, though, she had regained much of her calm. "All right," she said, swallowing hard and looking from Elizabeth to Mark. "When can I get out of here?"  
  
"Well, we're going to set you up with some Tylenol to try and get your fever down," replied Mark. "And there are a few things we can do for your headache and your throat. In a couple of hours, as long as nothing's changed with your spleen, we can all go home."  
  
At this new information, Ella wiped her eyes, took a big breath, and nodded. "Okay."  
  
  
  
The following morning, when Ella woke up and looked at her bedside clock, her first thought was that her team was already several hours into their second summer practice. Her next thought, however, was of brief and foreign gladness that she could stay in bed. Her joints ached, her sheets were damp with perspiration, and every swallow brought on a nauseating pounding in her head. She rolled over gingerly; it was almost as if giving a name to whatever was wrong with her had actually made it worse.  
  
She was tremendously thirsty, but the effort it would take to get out of bed and go downstairs seemed light years away. She was trying to force herself to stop thinking of cold water when Elizabeth appeared in the doorway. "Hey, you're up."  
  
Ella smiled ruefully. "Sort of," she croaked. "Can I have some water?"  
  
"Absolutely." She disappeared and came back with the glass of water of Ella's dreams – tall, frosty, perfect. She drank several long, wonderful, icy swallows before her sore throat got the better of her and she had to put the glass down. Elizabeth knelt and placed a cool hand on her forehead. "Your fever's back," she said. "How's your throat?"  
  
Ella grimaced in response.  
  
"Poor baby," said Elizabeth in sympathy, and went to get the Tylenol.  
  
"Aren't you working today?"  
  
"No, Dad and I have rearranged our schedules as much as we can so one of us can be here as often as possible. And I called Ozzie – he's so sorry that you're sick, Ellie."  
  
She sighed. "Did you tell Rachel yet?"  
  
"No, we thought you might want to talk to her first."  
  
She shook her head. "No, I don't know what I would say." A tear slid out of the corner of her eye and made its way down her cheekbone, cold by the time it sank into the pillow.  
  
"Oh, Ellie, I'm sure she'll understand."  
  
"I know, it's just…I just wish I could go, that's all."  
  
"I know." Elizabeth stroked her hair back from her forehead. "How about some breakfast?" Ella wrinkled her nose. "Come on, I'll make some hot cereal and tea. We'll set you up on the couch downstairs with one of those mushy movies you like so much."  
  
Ella mustered up some indignance. "Mushy?"  
  
"Yeah, Dad went out last night and rented some old ones he knew you'd like."  
  
"Which ones?"  
  
"Well, I know he got Ghost, Titanic, Casablanca –" This was sufficient motivation and Ella pushed back the covers and slowly followed her mother downstairs.  
  
  
  
Ella made it through nearly two movies, but she drifted off again on the couch around the time the diamond was tossed off the ship into the ocean. Elizabeth hated to wake her, but about halfway through the afternoon knelt at her head with a glass of cranberry juice in order to push fluids. "Ella. Ella, wake up."  
  
The reddened eyes opened reluctantly.  
  
"Ella, you need to keep drinking, all right? Just drink this juice and then you can go back to sleep."  
  
She murmured a groggy protest, but finally reached for the glass. "What time is it?"  
  
"It's just after three."  
  
"So practice is over." She sighed. "Is Daddy still at work?"  
  
"Yes, but he should be home by dinnertime."  
  
Ella finished the last of the juice, wincing at the dry, hot scratchiness of her throat. "Can I have a Popsicle or something?"  
  
"Sure." Elizabeth went to fetch one from the freezer. While she was in the kitchen the phone rang. "Hello? …Oh, hi…yes, she's here. Hold on." She brought Ella the phone with her Popsicle. "It's Sasha."  
  
"Thank you." Ella scooted up so she was sitting against the end of the couch, curling with her knees against her chest. "Hi, Sash."  
  
"El, how are you? You sound terrible."  
  
"I feel pretty cruddy. What did you hear?"  
  
"Ozzie told us all today that it's mono. How long are you gonna be sick, do you think?"  
  
She sighed. "I'm probably going to be out of soccer all summer."  
  
There was a short silence. "Ella, that sucks."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Can you go to New York? I mean, that's not all active like soccer. Maybe –"  
  
She cut her off. "Nope." She heard the sigh of sympathy at the other end. "And I'm not really supposed to even see very much of you or anybody, either. Because you could get it, which would suck double." Both girls were quiet for a moment, the reality sinking in that this was going to be quite a different summer than they had imagined only a few days ago.  
  
Finally, Sasha changed the subject. "Hey, Jonah was at the field today with his brother."  
  
"Really?" Ella suddenly remembered that now she wasn't likely to see Jonah anytime soon, either. She couldn't help another big sigh. "Do you know they call it the kissing disease sometimes?"  
  
Sasha knew exactly what she was talking about. "Ella, don't say that! I'm sure you'll see him again later when you're better."  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
"And then you'll get plenty of kissing in!"  
  
"Sasha!" Her eyes widened, and she snuck a look at her mother to make sure she wasn't paying attention.  
  
"Okay, okay, forget I said anything."  
  
  
  
Ella felt about the same – cruddy – throughout the next few weeks. One morning about three quarters of the way into June, Mark came in with a glass of juice and her Tylenol to find her in tears, looking out the window at the sunny, clear day. "I'm going for a run, I should be back – hey, Ellie, what's the matter?"  
  
She rolled over in the bed and wiped her eyes. "Daddy, I'm tired of being sick."  
  
He set the juice down and sat next to her. "I know."  
  
"I'm bored and lonely and I want to play soccer and see my friends."  
  
He sighed. "I know you do. You do know why, though. We're not holding you prisoner for no reason. You know that, right?"  
  
"Yes! I know – my spleen and my liver and all that. It's just stupid."  
  
"Yeah. Well, do you want to play cards or watch a movie or something?"  
  
"No. I am so sick of movies and cards. There's nothing to do around here. But I'm okay. Go for your run."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
She looked up at him, her eyes wet but clear. "Yeah. There's nothing you can do. I'll be fine."  
  
As Mark was running along his usual route a little while later, he was still thinking about what Ella had said. He realized that if the mono hadn't happened, she'd probably be putting the last few items in her suitcase to take to New York right about now. It seemed a long time ago that he'd said no to the trip; once he'd gotten used to the idea and discussed it with Rachel, who at last seemed stable and happy for a change, he'd actually become pretty glad for Ella. She'd have had a great time, he realized. She was one of those kids who threw herself into new opportunities with determined open-mindedness and zest for excitement – but even she couldn't get past the utter misery of being sick for the summer.  
  
He crossed the street and entered the park near their house, following the paved path past the swing set and baseball diamond, where two blonde boys were throwing a Frisbee for their Dalmatian. He really wanted to think of something that would cheer Ella up, but it was proving to be difficult since there were only so many romantic movies to rent and she'd entirely lost her appetite for the various junky foods that normally induced such great bliss. He passed a younger woman running with a big husky on a leash and waved hello; she was a neighbor. Elizabeth had remarked at dinner last night that Sasha was a true friend – she called nearly every evening to report what had transpired on the soccer field, which always made Ella a little happier for an hour or so. She had talked to Natalie and several of her other friends as well, but he realized that she was completely justified in feeling as lonely as she did, since the telephone hardly made up for the days and days of time with her friends she had been planning on.  
  
The idea hit him right about the time he started up his own block again, and by the time he had finished stretching he was so jazzed up about it that he couldn't wait until evening to ask Elizabeth what she thought; as soon as he had checked on his sleeping daughter he picked up the phone to call his wife at work.  
  
He caught her as she was in her office gathering her notes for an administrative meeting. She was surprised but quickly picked up on his excitement and saw the brilliance in his plan. "She has mentioned it before…we've never really had the time. But now…you're right, Mark. We do need to do something. She really needs something fun to cheer her up."  
  
"So you think we should do it?"  
  
"Well…yes. When, do you suppose? Maybe this weekend?"  
  
"Actually, I was thinking, I sort of have time this afternoon. Maybe I could go down there –"  
  
"Today?"  
  
"What, would you rather wait?"  
  
"Well, I guess there's no reason to, but…"  
  
"She's just really bummed out today. I thought –"  
  
"No, no, I'm just still getting used to the idea. I say go for it. But you'd better use your best judgment!"  
  
"Okay, I will."  
  
"All right, then. I'm going to get home as on time as I can. Try to hold off until then – I really want to see her face."  
  
  
  
Ella was in the middle of a familiar dream in which she was driving the soccer ball up the field for the smoothest, most beautiful goal possible while being cheered on by a rowdy crowd that included both of her parents, Jonah, and Jack Dawson from Titanic when suddenly rain began to fall and she realized her face was getting wet. She swatted at the wetness sleepily, slowly becoming aware that she was waking up but the rain wasn't disappearing. She finally opened her eyes and realized she was looking into the most eager, furry, wonderful brown-eyed little face she could imagine.  
  
And that it was attached to a wriggling, golden, four-legged body that was obviously delighted to be climbing all over her and licking her face. She couldn't snap out of the moment of utter disbelief and confusion and she sat up quickly, hardly sure that her dream had actually ended. The puppy was smiling up at her and furiously wagging her tail. Ella stared, her bewilderment slowly giving way to a level of delight that she'd nearly forgotten, not having experienced it since her fall on the soccer field.  
  
She turned at a noise and looked toward the doorway, where her parents were practically climbing over each other and trying unsuccessfully to keep from laughing. Ella was nearly speechless. "Is this – I mean, is it, am I –"  
  
Mark stepped into the room. "She's yours if you want her, Ellie."  
  
Ella felt as if she were floating just above the bed. Her heart was beating so fast it seemed to be climbing up her throat. "Are you serious?"  
  
Both Mark and Elizabeth nodded, big stupid grins plastered across their faces.  
  
The puppy, clearly noticing that she wasn't getting the attention she deserved, barked shrilly. Ella's puppy-mothering instincts kicked in instantly and she gathered her onto her lap, holding onto her floppy legs and paws. "How did you –"  
  
Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed and reached to stroke the puppy's velvety ears. "Daddy went down to the animal shelter this afternoon to see what they had and there she was. He had an idea that she might cheer you up…and you're certainly old enough now to take care of her. She's twelve weeks old."  
  
Ella looked up at her father, her eyes wide with joy and gratitude. "Daddy, thank you."  
  
He laughed. "You're welcome. You better take good care of her, too – someday she's going to be my new running partner. We don't know how big she's going to get, though – at the shelter they said they don't know what she is, probably retriever and shepherd, something like that."  
  
Ella looked down at her contented new friend. "Whatever she is, she's beautiful."  
  
"Hey, what are you going to call her?"  
  
Ella thought about it. She'd often considered what she would name a dog if she ever had one…but suddenly a name popped into her head. The mushy movies must be getting to her brain, she thought, because this name was from that supremely mushy one about the ship and the diamond. "Rosie," she said.  
  
Later that night, after Rosie had passed out on her new doggie bed on the kitchen floor, Mark and Elizabeth sat drinking tea on the couch in the living room. "I think we're in for more work this summer than we thought," said Mark, eyeing the sock on the floor that Rosie had already chewed almost beyond recognition.  
  
Elizabeth laughed. "Oh, but it was such a good idea. Ella is happier than she's been for weeks. I bet she wouldn't go to New York now if we said she could."  
  
"Yeah, maybe if she's not so bummed out she'll get better faster, too. Maybe we'll make it to California in August."  
  
Elizabeth nodded, then looked up. "Mark, what are we going to do with a puppy while we're in California?"  
  
He stopped mid-sip, his eyebrows raised. "Ummm…"  
  
Ella's voice, still croaky from her sore throat, drifted down from upstairs. "Sasha, you will never guess what happened today…" 


End file.
